At a reception in the House of Commons yesterday evening sixty MPs (including a handful of Labour and Liberal Democrats) joined host Graham Brady to honour the contribution that grammar schools make to British society.

Michael Gove – like last year – was there, and didn’t just pop in. He spent considerable time talking to the many headteachers present. The only other shadow cabinet minister I spotted was Owen Paterson.

The Friends of Grammar Schools campaign has a new website. You can donate to their work via this page.

On the reception’s margins there was fighting talk. One MP told me that he would attempt to amend any Tory education legislation to allow for more grammar schools. The Cameron leadership would either have to accept the amendment or get a "very bloody nose", he warned.